Elections - Southwest Valley Schools

Apartment growth likely to put strain on schools

Number of units in Goodyear to nearly double by summer

by Elias C. Arnold - Oct. 18, 2008 08:00 AMThe Arizona Republic

Hundreds of apartments coming to Goodyear means more students at local schools.

Goodyear will get 836 apartments by next summer, nearly doubling their numbers. That's the equivalent of adding a neighborhood 1½ times the size of the Centerra housing development.The new complexes include:

• The 508-unit Serafina and Lunaire, northeast of Estrella Parkway and Yuma Road, opening in November.

• The 328-unit Aldea at Estrella Falls, northwest of Bullard Avenue and Encanto Boulevard. Aldea is open and construction is expected to be completed in May.

"I would expect the demographics to be real similar to what is already there" in the surrounding community, said Dave Banning, property manager for Lunaire and Serafina.

Apartments affect schools differently because renters tend to be younger and less likely than homeowners to have children.

School officials say houses in the Goodyear area generate students at a much higher rate than apartments - nearly four times as many high school students and twice as many elementary students live in houses.

The exception is the Litchfield Elementary School District, which includes the Aldea apartments. Administrators are seeing about as many students coming from apartments as from single-family homes.

"It's becoming very close," Superintendent Julianne Lein said.

Foreclosures are pushing the district's families into apartments, she said. The district gets about two students for every 25 housing units, regardless of type.

At that rate, the Aldea complex will add about 26 students to Palm Valley Elementary School, which already is dealing with overcrowding.

Lein attributed the problem to continued growth in the Palm Valley development and a school construction project put on hold because of state budget cuts. It takes three hours to rotate the students through lunch at Palm Valley Elementary, which uses the teachers lounge and stage for instruction.